Kailey Moncrief is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Ironwood for AZPreps365.

It was an ending that no one could have predicted.

The seemingly ironclad lead that Ironwood had was lost in the abyss Friday night, giving the Eagles an upsetting 28-26 loss that left the team visibly upset.

Agua Fria's touchdown in the last 23 seconds and surprising on-side kick that followed denied the Eagles a final attempt to try and win the game. Agua Fria escaped with a homecoming win but nothing came easily for the Owls. 

To start, the Eagles had a clear goal in mind.

"It's their Hoco game, we came here trying to ruin it really bad," said wide receiver Adian Jones.

The Eagles' energy was high for most of the game and they led 20-14 through three quarters.

With the fear of losing its homecoming game, Agua Fria had to step it up if there was any chance of winning.

In the fourth quarter, the Owls scored a touchdown, tying the game 20-20, and with the extra point, they pulled ahead of Ironwood, 21-20.

Ironwood needed to score and it needed to score fast.

Ironwood scored a touchdown and opted to go for the 2-point conversion, knowing that it would need those extra two points to maintain a tie, should the Owls put another seven points on the board.

The effort was there, but the Owls defense put up a fight in hopes that their offense would score again and pull off a win.

With an unsuccessful 2-point conversion attempt, the Eagles led 26-21.

With 23 seconds left, it looked as if Ironwood's lead would be enough to take home the win and ruin Agua Fria's homecoming.

But as any football fan knows, 23 seconds is a lifetime in football.

The Owls ran the ball right into the Eagles' end zone in a surprising twist of events. Agua Fria scored the touchdown and made the extra point, taking a 28-26 lead.

This was a controversial moment. Many Eagles fans were upset over a call that could have changed the outcome.

The Ironwood fans seemed to believe that the officiating crew missed a holding penalty against Agua Fria, which would have overturned the touchdown.

Ironwood head coach Tony Stillings admitted that it can be disheartening, but ultimately the referees make the final call and he wants his players to respect that.

"You teach them never to complain about officiating so I can't be the first to complain about it if that's what I'm teaching them,'' Stillings said. "You let them know that every call doesn't go your way and you have to rebound from it and move on."

Trailing 28-26 with 23 seconds left, Ironwood needed a field goal to win. But what happened next was something that no one saw coming.

Agua Fria surprised Ironwood with an onside kick and maintained possession of the ball.

The Eagles knew it was over, but this game was certainly not a poor performance.

Sophomore Abel Silva intercepted a pass that seemed to ignite a spark among his teammates.

"I feel like as a whole and as a team the energy came up and I feel like after that we just kept pushing and pushing," said Silva. "They were all happy. I came to the sidelines and I got a lot of claps, I got a lot of headbumps, and I'm just doing what I'm doing. Doing what I can do best."

This game was a great learning experience for the Eagles, who acknowledged what they did well and what they need to do better.

"We came out really strong in the first half, proved a point, and then in the second half we got a little comfortable and we started to slow down," said quarterback Conner Crane.

Stillings isn't blaming the controversial call for Friday's loss and plans to work with his team in practice so that they can avoid certain mistakes in the future.

"There were chances after that we had to do things, we made a crucial mistake after that, so we would have still had a chance to win the game," Stillings said.

Ironwood is hopeful to win its own homecoming game next week against Barry Goldwater.

"Goldwater is a tough opponent,'' Stillings said. "They're well-coached. ... They're a well-disciplined, hard-nosed team. So we've got to be ready for a fight."